Mark Hitchcock is pastor of Faith Bible Church in Edmond, Okla. He is the author of Could the Rapture Happen Today?

The Rev. Meg Barnhouse is a Unitarian Universalist pastor in Austin, Texas. She once preached a sermon titled “The Rapture in America.”

The Rev. Robert Vale is pastor of Osceola United Methodist Church in Osceola, Ind., where he has preached about the Second Coming.

The Rev. Jerry Shirley is pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Decatur, Ill., where he has preached numerous sermons on the Book of Revelation and other biblical end-times prophecies.

Robert Royalty is an associate professor of religion at Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., where he teaches a course titled “Apocalypse Then, Apocalypse Now,” which looks at the history of apocalyptic movements and groups from Rome to Waco.

A Religion News Service piece analyzing the portrayal of torture in the 2012 movie “Zero Dark Thirty.”

John Byron is associate professor of New Testament and Greek at Ashland Theological Seminary in Ashland, Ohio. He has written about evangelical fascination with the Rapture on his blog The Biblical World.

J. Daniel Hays is a co-author of the Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times. Hays is on the faculty of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark.

J. Scott Duvall is professor of New Testament at Oachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Ark., where he also holds the J.C. and Mae Fuller Chair of Biblical Studies. Duvall is a co-author of the Dictionary of Biblical Prophecy and End Times.